Shawn Porter seems to get better with every fight. In his last fight, he beat a very good fighter in Devon Alexander who has defeated the likes of Lucas Matthysse and Marcos Maidana. On Saturday night, Porter did something that arguably no other opponent has ever done; dismantle Paulie Malignaggi.
From the opening bell, Porter used a quick left jab to set up big right hands, stayed discipline with a sustained body attack and displayed excellent lateral movement while changing angles. In the second round, Porter landed a wicked three punch combination flush on the head of Malignaggi that seemed to daze him even though he swung back wildly in return. Porter then landed a huge overhand right followed by a powerful looping left hook that had Paulie hanging on. Porter then landed a huge right hand towards the end of the round which wobbled Malignaggi. In Round 3, Porter went back to the body while tripling up the jab and with a little over a minute left in the round, Porter landed another huge right that had Malignaggi in big trouble again but he was able to survive the round.
To begin Round 4, Porter landed multiple jabs and then a right on the left temple of Malignaggi which dropped him as he was moving backwards, Malignaggi was able to get up right away and did not look to be overly hurt. Porter then begins an assault and lands a huge looping left hook followed by a huge right hook as Malignaggi wobbles into the ropes. Porter then lands a devastating right cross followed by a vicious assault of left hooks and right crosses that drops Malignaggi. As Malignaggi lay on the canvas with the top of his torso under the bottom rope, he is counted out.
When asked after the fight about the right hands that ultimately ended the fight, Porter stated “We knew the right hand was going to come all night, we knew it was just a matter of lining it up”
Looking at times like a mini Mike Tyson, Porter threw combinations with bad intentions. The speed of Porter was amazing and was especially impressive because Maiignaggi’s speed is one of his biggest strengths and Porter was able to match him even while throwing power shots. It would be hard to find anything here that Porter didn’t do well in this one but he did get touched with right hands from time to time a little more than he should have and will need to tighten up that part of his game before facing a bigger puncher.
As far as what is next for Porter he stated “I’m going to enjoy this, let my team handle it, my dad, my manager, my coach, Kenny Porter, he does a fantastic job with me, I’m sure they will all communicate and come up with the next gameplan and we’ll tackle it”
The options are limitless for Porter who retains his welterweight title and moves his record to 24-0-1 (15 KO) with this victory. There are many options at 147 such as the aforementioned Matthysse and Maidana or what about other possible opponents such as Timothy Bradley? One interesting future opponent could be Danny Garcia, who during Showtime’s telecast stated that he was moving to 147 in the near future. Whoever the future opponents are should be ready to face an opponent who will be better than he was the fight before, and that’s Showtime.
Standing-8 